Jeremy of We Got This Covered wrote, "Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. had a steep climb from the beginning. Taking a cult-classic film like John Carpenter‘s The Thing and attempting to make a prequel keeping the exact same name is a ballsy move and Heijningen for the most part doesn’t insult the intelligence of the viewer with his version of the shape-shifting alien from outer space. He plays it fairly close to the path Carpenter already walked in the 1982 film by keeping the same tone established throughout the entire film. The suspense is on high and blood is ready to spill." (Blu-ray, The Thing (2011)) 3.5/5